Amelie

A child in war-torn Europe, Amelie Munk fled for her life with her mother, grandmother, and younger siblings on a packed train from Paris bound for the south of France. Eking out a tough daily existence, Amelie quickly matured into a young woman whose spirited beauty saved her from several sticky encounters. Life changed for Amelie after the war, when, still a teenager, she married the man destined to become the Chief Rabbi. Amelie transformed into that rare combination - sophisticated woman-of-the-world and Jewish revivalist - rubbing shoulders with royalty and the political elite. Her husband, Chief Rabbi Jakobovits, was an adviser to the Thatcher government: chosen neither for politics nor faith, but for his earthier sense of personal and social responsibility. In her own right Amelie became a luminary of many charities and a speaker and educator on the talmudic and moral issues close to her heart. A deep spiritual connection with her faith and her belief of the sanctity of the family guided her. When Lord Jakobovits was created a Peer of the Realm by then prime minister Thatcher, Amelie Jakobovits became an icon of another kind, and is now regarded with general affection as Lady J.